Pregnancy Brain
by Apocalyptic-Fairytale
Summary: A pregnant Aerith can't seem to remember the reason she dragged her husband, Cloud, into town... pregnancy brain was such a pain to deal with! Strife Family Clerith Cleris... Written for #ClerithMonth (Day 3) but based on ichuki-nee's artwork. Please R&R if you have the time.


What a tiring day, Aerith thought. She was standing outside of a small baby store. She couldn't remember for the life of her why they were there. Was it for a crib? _"No...,"_ she thought, _"Cloud made one already."_ She only had a few moments to remember why she dragged herself and Cloud out of the house on such a hot day, before Cloud came back from where-ever he was. "Think, Aerith..." She tapped her finger against her chin as she thought.

 _More Diapers?_ No, they already had so many prepared for the baby's arrival.

 _Did we need more baby clothes?_ Of course not, the baby shower Yuffie and Tifa threw for her provided more than enough. In fact, Cloud said it was more clothes than a newborn baby boy could actually ever wear.

 _Maybe it was to buy a baby seat_ , she mused to herself. "No, my mother already gave us one."

 _Oh! what were we here for!_ Aerith stared into the glass window of the storefront and tapped her finger against her chin a few more times, trying her best to remember what she was looking for.

"Aerith... _what are you doing?_ " came her husband's voice, he approached her from behind and placed one hand on her back gently. He wasn't sure why his wife had stopped to look at the baby story. Aerith turned and saw Cloud's perplex stare, one of his brows raised in confusion.

"I'm trying to remember what we were here for, Cloud." She placed her hand on her forehead and brushed her bangs out of her eyes out of exhaustion from the heat and sighed, "But I can't figure out what we were—"

"Uh... Aerith," Cloud hesitantly interrupted, "We're in town because you said you were craving _ice cream_... _remember?_ " Cloud gently rubbed her back as he placed a kiss on the temple of her head. "You must have just got distracted by something inside." Cloud tried to hold back a boyish smile as he spoke, but pregnancy brain was often funny to see on his wife.

"Oh, my gosh..." Aerith exclaimed embarrassingly. _That's right,_ she thought. She had asked for ice cream earlier.

"Oh! Don't laugh, Cloud!" Aerith huffed as she put her hands on her hips— _or what was left of them for the time being_ —and continued, "I feel like I'm a crazy person or something! I put the keys in the fridge, I itch all over my body, I cant sleep in the position I want, and I'm drinking pickle juice like it's going out of style—"

Cloud unexpectedly interrupted his wife with an uncontrollable chuckle, he quickly tried to conceal the laugh by turning his head away and by biting his bottom lip. But his shoulders jerking up and down from his silent laugh gave him away. Over the months, Cloud learned a lot about expecting mothers. For one, they craved the weirdest things. One of which were pickle choice. This was the funniest and strangest of Aerith's cravings and every time Cloud opened the fridge and saw a jar full of pickles without any juice, he would laugh so hard that he was sure he never laughed so hard before in his life.

Aerith weakly swatted Cloud's chest with her hand, as if to tell him to stop.

"It's funny now, but maybe I might make you eat whatever I crave, too _—like my mother said I should do._ "

The thought of downing entire jars of pickle juice... wasn't very inviting, so Cloud put on the best poker face he had.

Then, suddenly, _Aerith felt it_.

A sudden jerk in her lower abdomen.

 _Was it a kick?_

 _A tumble?_

 _A roll?_

Whatever their precious baby was doing within the safety of her womb, she felt it... _and it was unmistakable_.

"Cloud," Aerith exclaimed, "The baby..." she gently placed her hand atop her belly. "The baby is kicking!" She giggled as those words danced off her tongue. Their baby boy kicked! What a joy it was to experience the first flutter of their first child. She heard so many stories from her mother about what it would feel like, but she never expected something so magical.

As Aerith was lost in pure bliss, she couldn't help but notice that Cloud looked a little...distraught. _What on Earth_ , Aerith thought. Before she could ask what was the matter, Aerith felt Cloud place one hand on her back, as if to balance her, and then outstretched his other hand in front of her, as if to catch her if she were to fall suddenly.

"Does it hurt," Cloud fretted, his eyes arched with concern."Are you okay?" he was about to insist that they head to the hospital but Aerith was the one to interrupt him this time.

"Oh, Cloud! It's fine."

Aerith's face scrunched up with laughter as she tried to calm her husband.

"This is normal. Here—" she paused her sentence momentarily to grab his hand and place it on her belly where the movements were, "...Feel, Cloud."

And just like that, all of Cloud's fears were gone. Instead of concern, he was flooded with a feeling of pride, but more so, it felt like joy and love. The movements, while weak, were all Cloud could focus on. It felt like a little nudge from beneath his wife's belly. It made him feel like he had butterflies in his own chest, a feeling that usually only his wife's smile could instill in him. The entire pregnancy, it was Aerith who was going through all of the major bonding moments with their son, but now, it was their turn to experience something _together_.

"... its... _amazing_." Cloud murmured.

He then turned his gaze to his wife, their eyes locking as his hand was still placed on her belly.

"It is, isn't it," Aerith began, "Everything's like a dream come true." she beamed back.

Cloud let a warm smile spread across his features, his eyes pouring love all over his beautiful wife, " _It is._ "

 _And it was._

* * *

This was written for Day 3 of #ClerithMonth (theme: Pregnancy). The fic itself is based entirely on ichuki-nee's fanart; **clerith-month . tumblr post/134483413158/ichuki-nee-clerith-month-day-3-theme**

 **Future reference** : Their first born son is named " _Sora_ ". Maybe it's KH Sora, or maybe it isn't. I just think the name fits a clerith baby so much.

Here's hoping for a **#HappyClerithEnding** in the remake, guys. And thanks for reading!


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